Quantcast
  We apologize for any slow response. This will be fixed before October 31st Portal logo
Login/Register
Bactrian Gold Treasure from Afghanistan, coming soon....
/gemstones/king-gems-decorative-stones/page_250 - 2
 

Opalus, Opal

Opalus, Opal Page of 384 Opalus, Opal Text size:minus plus Restore normal size   Mail page  Print this page
OPALUS.
241
purely for the sake of this gem ; but made his escape, carrying off the ring along with him, the sole relic of his fortune : putting up with exile rather than make his peace with the Triumvir by the surrender of the coveted treasure. The finest Opal of modern times was the Empress Josephine's, entitled the " Burning of Troy," from the innumerable red flamos blazing upon its surface, the reverse being perfectly opaque. The present owner of this unique gem is unknown. The Turks of our day esteem the Opal as highly as the Diamond, and readily give 1000l. for a perfect one of the size above specified by Pliny.
" India," continues the naturalist, " is the sole mother of the Opal." This region (or perhaps Arabia) continued the only source of the supply of the best sort down to a comparatively recent period. When De Boot wrote there was but one mine known in Hungary, and that nearly filled up with rubbish ; and which besides, he remarks, had hardly ever furnished anything but the third and fourth rate Opals, the first even then coining exclusively from India.* Some mineralogists doubt the fact that any region of the East Indies ever produced the true Opal, merely because no such gem is now brought from thence ; hut the same argument applies here as in the case of the true Emerald, not at this time found in that country, formerly the principal source of the stone. The Hungarian mines of Czernovitza (where this gem occurs embedded in porphyry), a region inaccessible to the Romans of Pliny's age, now supply the finest Opals, and of a size far exceeding that of Nonius. A gigantic specimen is ex­hibited in the Imperial Cabinet at Vienna, and for which,
* The defect of the Hungarian was the yellow tinge pervading the body, which entirely dulled the precious iridescence of the species. The great majority too were no more than Senei-Opal (the Girasol).
(â)                                                                                                          »
Opalus, Opal Page of 384 Opalus, Opal
Suggested Illustrations
Other Chapters you may find useful
Other Books on this topic
bullet Tag
This Page